hen the house designed by Peter (R. N.) Johnson for his family was placed on the market in 2009, genuine prospective buyers found themselves surrounded by those keen for a look at a house they already knew. Many had seen pictures and drawings of this anchor of Sydney’s modern architectural history. A few had, as students, even been introduced to it in real life by its architect, when he was their teacher. Hidden away in Chatswood, in Sydney’s north, the house occupies a rear battleaxe block behind another, slightly earlier Johnson-designed house. To enter it is to turn away
